Volkov Out Of UFC St. Petersburg

17 days away from the UFC’s return to Russia, the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 7 has changed.

Alexander Volkov has been pulled from the April 20th card’s headliner against Alistair Overeem.

Replacing Volkov in the main event will be Aleksei Oleinik, who is ranked 15th in the heavyweight division, and headlined the UFC’s first event in Russia back in September of 2018.

Overeem returns to the Octagon after a first round stoppage against Sergei Pavlovich in November, and aims to fight his way to his first UFC title shot since September 2016, where he would lose to then UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

Prior to this week’s announcement, Oleinik was set to face Walt Harris on May’s UFC on ESPN+ 8 event, but with his experience defeating Mark Hunt last year in Russia, Oleinik was tabbed to headline the event set for April 20th at Yubileyniy Arena in St. Petersburg.

He was scheduled to fight Walt Harris at UFC on ESPN+ 8 next month, but has been pulled from that bout in favor of the matchup with Overeem.